Reagan's Legacy: The ZombyTroof Edition

[Zomby Woof]

I came to bury Ronald Reagan, not to praise him.

The icon of modern American conservatism represented everything that is wrong with America and Americans: Intellectual dishonesty, hostility to the poor and excluded of society, unchecked greed, worship of celebrity and obscene wealth, indifference to the truth, and arrogant disregard for dissent and reason. He is the perfect figurehead for the unthinking flag-wavers and war fetishists who claim to represent wholesome, mythical "middle America".

The irony of course, is that Reagan ran as an anti-government conservative, promising to balance the budget, and strengthen the military, all the while selling us on the myth of a "morning in America". The most mind-numbing myth we will be sold by the media these next few weeks is that he "ended the Cold War" and "saved the world from Communism". Don't you believe it for a second.

Rooster - credit - sunrise, anyone?

The reality, as always, is less than flattering. Obviously suffering from Alzheimer's far earlier than publicly declared (as far back as the 1940's, in fact), this treacherous cretin played to the basest, worst instincts of an America humbled by Vietnam, Watergate, and the Iranian hostage situation. Americans have an unhealthy sense of entitlement, which springs not so much from our cherished freedom, but from the Me First Individualism that is the dark side of the E Pluribus Unum coin. Extremism in the defense of selfishness is a vice, and Reagan was the Dealer-in-Chief.

The man who brought us Ollie North's secret government, record deficits, the worst homelessness since the Depression, rampant filling of the troughs of the military-industrial complex, hostile disregard of truth and accountability, and perhaps occupied the emptiest suit to ever legally win the White House... is dead.

Unfortunately, his memory (pun intended or not is up to you) will survive, albeit with the same gross distortion of fact his White House and a compliant media enabled for far, far too long. And will so now, as the mourning in America unfolds.

But he is dead, and I feel the same sense of relief we should all feel when petty tyrants and despots pass into the great unknown.

Fuck you, Ronald Wilson Reagan, and everything your wretchedly hollow life stood for, in perpetuity. The damage you wrought may never be undone, and the America you claimed to love so much is a shell of its former self in no small part due to your 'legacy'.

Fuck you, forevermore.

[LiviaOlivia]

1. Amen

On edit:


October 23, 1983
Beirut, Lebanon

241 Marines killed
58 soliders killed

[GOPisEvil]

2. Couldn't have said that better myself.

[curse10]

3. You said it better than I ever could

:-) Good job.

[LeftPeopleFinishFirst]

4. Another one bites the dust

My sympathies go with his family for losing a husband and father, but there is not an ounce of guilt in me for saying good riddance, Raygun, to everything you stood for.


And yet I know my grandfather had Alzheimer's and I know how it was for him, so I can feel sorry for him in that regard. What I do not feel sorry for him is in regards to the scar his presidency left on our country.

So it is hard for me to feel either way about this, but I am glad he's gone- 1) because he was a horrible person and 2) because he was in so much pain from a disease that I know hurts...

I just don't know

[Zomby Woof]

6. this isn't about the disease

Or his suffering... this is about what was his net effect on the world.

My take is that it he did more harm than good while alive, and that the only redeeming quality of his disease was that it kept his mouth shut for the last decade of his life.

What I really hate about his Alzheimer's was that it gave his worshippers and other sympathizers more reason to lionize him for some kind of twisted martyrdom. What they have done (and will do for an indefinite time now) is exploit his illness and death for their own gain. "Oh! He suffered so! So let's only speak well of him! Even if we have to play fast and loose with the truth!"

Fuck that.

And people think I am being harsh? The exploiters of his suffering and death are far more harsh than I.

[kaitykaity]

5. You said it well.

May he rot in hell.

[nofurylike]

7. amen. n/t

[mandyky]

8. Dick Cheney: Ronald Reagan taught us

deficits don't matter....

[JanMichael]

9. You aren't being appropriately saddened by his passing! For SHAME!

RESPECT dammit. Bad, bad, insensitive, nasty, LIEberal!

[Raskolnik]

10. You don't have to be saddened.

Just don't be ghoulish...like you are.

It doesn't serve you purposes in the end; its just childish and puts a bad face on our message.

[JanMichael]

11. I'm being "ghoulish"? Really?

Yeah, perhaps I am, then again I don't shed crocodile tears either. Personally I'd say that the kind of person that'd intentionally keep their trap shut whilst the avalanche of self serving Conservative lies regarding Saint Ronnie flow freely is ghoulish albeit in a less dramatic fashion.

K'?

[Zomby Woof]

21. I love it when people tell me what to do

How I should act, think, or behave. Freedom-loving Americans, indeed. :P

[Zomby Woof]

12. fuck it

Let's kick it.

[nolabels]

16. I just want to celebrate

I lived at least one day longer than stupid ole fool that also was once also a governor this state of California (who even more borderlined on being a fascist then). My guess he mellowed some before when he took the oval office. I am very happy he is finally gone, and no body can take away from me that I lived at least one day longer than his worthless ass. I don't feel sorry he suffered before he left either.

When my dad left it was while he was working out in the neighborhood, making a living, doing what he liked, mowing and taking care of other peoples lawns. He went fast, but knew it was coming (as told by him and his doctors). I will respect father always because he was honest as anyone could be, unlike Ronald Reagan.



Artist: Rare Earth Lyrics
Song: I Just Want To Celebrate Lyrics

I just want to celebrate another day of livin'
I just want to celebrate another day of life
I put my faith in the people
But the people let me down
So I turned the other way
And I carry on, anyhow
That's why I'm telling you

I just want to celebrate, yeah, yeah
I just want to celebrate, yeah, yeah
Another day of living,
I just want to celebrate another day of life

Had my hand on the dollar bill
And the dollar bill blew away
But the sun is shining down on me
And it's here to stay
That's why I'm telling you

I just want to celebrate, yeah, yeah
Another day of living, yeah
I just want to celebrate another day of living
I just want to celebrate another day of life

Don't let it all get you down,
Don't let it turn you around and around
And around and around
(snip)
http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/ridingincarswithboys/ijustwanttocelebrate.htm

[greatauntoftriplets]

22. Kick.

For the hell of it.

[XanaDUer]

13. GOD BLESS YOU ZW!

:yourock:

[mopaul]

14. enjoy hell ron

i hope frank zappa can walk over to the political wing of hell to visit his ol' nemisis, ronny raygun. i bet frank works for satan now, and will be one of the lucky demons who gets to shove a white hot poker up ron's ass.

[rumguy]

15. clown

:+

[Dees]

17. Good bye Ronnie

Don't forget to eat your ketchup.

[CatWoman]

18. that's my big brother talking!!!!!

I remember a conversation with a co-worker, who is a Public Health Service Officer.

He was talking about how Reagan's budget cuts devastated whole communites -- poor communities -- as they had to close down a lot of clinics that served people who couldn't make it to hospitals.

Either they were too poor, or the major cities were so far away.

I'll never forget the anger on his face.

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

19. Good stuff. thanks!

I appreciate that some of us aour being honest about Reagan and his legacy.

[Carolina]

20. true, truer and truest

great post, ZW :toast:

[greatauntoftriplets]

23. Billy Bragg said it well.....

It's morning in America
and you can be your best
You have a valid credit card
and can pass a urine test.

It's midnight in El Salvador
their spending dollars in your name
'N' it's no bloody consolation
that Reagan cannot run again.

They'll trade with the Ayatollah
if they can't convince Congress
the only type of patriot
is an Anti-Communist.

And I shake my head and wonder
what would Joe McCarthy say
If he could walk through downtown
Washington D.C. today

The C.I.A. on campus
are taking down some names
Inviting folks to join them
in their Coke and dagger games.

And does it ever prick your conscience
as we are the world you see
And you know today we are so far away
from the tunes of Martin Luther King.

The brotherhood of the elephant
and the party of the ass
Are desparate for contestants
to take part in the fest.

I'm selling democracy down the tubes
with the admans expertise
The majority by their silence
are paid for days like these.

Peace bred work and freedom
are the best we can achieve
'N' wearing badges is not enough
In days like these.

[KG]

24. billy bragg knows what time it is!

:)

[Zomby Woof]

25. I love Bragg

Saw him with the Blokes a few years ago in Seattle - sat in the front row and exchanged jokes with him - he loves to banter with the crowd.

Great lyrics, thanks for sharing!

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

28. Yep, Billy Bragg does it right.

Great political songwriting there....

[VolcanoJen]

29. OH, excellent! I've been thinking of U2's "Bullet the Blue Sky".

Thank you for reminding me of Bragg... perfect.

Here's a part of the song that most reminds me of the Reagan Years:

U2 "Bullet the Blue Sky"

This guy comes up to me
His face red like a rose on a thorn bush
Like all the colors of a royal flush
And he's peeling off those dollar bills
Slapping them down
One hundred! Two hundred!
And I can see those fighter planes
And I can see those fighter planes
Across the mud huts where the children sleep
Through the alleys of a quiet city street
You take the staircase to the first floor
Turn the key and slowly unlock the door
As a man breathes into a saxophone
And through the walls you hear the city groan
Outside is America
Outside is America

[playahata1]

33. My favorite song on that whole album,

which, in its entirety, is a damn fine album.

Too bad that since then, U2 hasn't been able to recapture the urgency of "Joshua Tree" and every one of the albums before it.

[NMDemDist2]

26. why don't you quit pussyfooting around ZW and tell us what you REALLY

think??

[flaminbats]

27. Reagan's legacies can never be forgotten...

He promised us smaller, less bureaucratic government. Now Republicans have delivered us the largest, the most impenetrable government bureaucracies in the history of mankind!

Reagan supported simple and lower federal taxes on the taxpayers, but his policies have resulted in the most complex and highest per capita tax burden in this nation's history.

Reagan promised to eliminated federal debt and government waste, but his policies have left taxpayers with trillions in debt and wasting hundreds of billions every year just paying the interest on this debt.

Reagan spoke of America as being a shining city on a hill, but today our cities are rotting in the gutter.

Reagan spoke of strengthening national defense while spreading freedom and democracy abroad, but on 9/11 America suffered due to taxpayer funding of terrorism in the name of freedom fighting and having no national defense.

Although I loath everything which has resulted because of Reagan's leadership..I salute him. It was in part because of his actions as a President, a Republican, and as a political opponent whom I could respect that I was inspired to become a Democrat. Unlike most Republicans, I do not consider him a backstabber, and I would only be an active Democrat today because of Ronald Reagan. Reagan was both an idealist and an optimist, and I also admire him for that.

[mitchum]

30. Kicking truth above misplaced sympathy

He was a stupid and destructive man

[Duncan Grant]

31. In the finest DU tradition, I offer

a :kick: to the top of the page! Great post...thank you.

[JohnOneillsMemory]

32. Amen. Thank you for the clarification and zomby troof. n/t

[Zinfandel]

34. "Arrogant disregard for dissent " ...Hits me hard & true...

Spawns..."Your either with us OR your against us", a very dangerous mentality for a "free" nation to embrace.

Thank you Ronald Reagan.

[Cronus Protagonist]

35. Now THAT's a eulogy!

Buh-Bye Ronnie.


http://bushspeaks.com/home.asp?did=90

[ThirdWheelLegend]

36. ok, wow!

great post.

TWL

[noiretextatique]

37. i shed no tears for this supposedly affable front man

as i will shed no tears when the current one departs this life.
good night.